1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system having a peripheral control device, and more particularly, to a computer system having a programmable peripheral control device for recording frequently used procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Products using peripheral control devices to control each peripheral device of the computer system can be found in present market. Generally, a peripheral control device comprises a display device and a plurality of control keys through which to control correspondent peripherals directly. However, such operation is quite inconvenient for controlling a plurality of peripheral devices or performing complex interactive operations of the peripherals. For example, if a user wants to scan a document and send it out through a modem, he/she has to use the control keys of a peripheral control device to control the scanner to scan a document into the computer first, and then use the control keys to control the modem to send out the document.
Since multiple interactive steps are usually involved in a complex control procedure, a user has to execute each command of the procedure one by one and he/she can not proceed to a next command until one command is completely executed. Such process is quite time consuming and inconvenient. Any mistake occurs in the middle of the process may cause the user to repeat the whole procedure again. And when repeating the whole procedure, the user has to repeat each step one by one all the times. Such situations substantially decrease the efficiency in using traditional peripheral control devices.